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Tyre Punched Pistons

What is it?

Pistons can be made from car tyres cut out using a simple punch as shown in the above diagram. These types of pistons have been used extensively, especially in East Africa due to promotion by SHIPO in Tanzania, they work very well due to their ready availability. They are not as efficient as injection moulded pistons as they do not have a very conical shape and they tend to "flap" open, especially for the large sizes. However, low cost and ease of replacement are often more important than efficiency making them a very good choice.

Good Things

Easy and cheap to manufacture

A conical shape can be added using a sharp knife, the thicker the tyre used the better the cone shape that can be made

Bad Things

Larger sizes tend to flap open and create low efficiencies

If the punch is not selected correctly and kept sharp the clearance between the pump and pipe can end up being large adding extra inefficiencies.